BAGUIO Mayor Benjamin Magalong confirmed that a visitor of a hotel in Camp John Hay has tested positive for coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
Magalong then directed the hotel administration to coordinate with health authorities.
"I have turned them over to our health experts on infectious diseases to collaborate on what to do," he said.
Reports said the infected guest stayed in the hotel from March 9 to 11 and he tested positive for the disease upon return to Manila.
Magalong said interviews have been conducted with all personnel of the hotel and contact tracing is currently being done.
The hotel has not issued a statement on the issue as of press time.
Affected persons have also coordinated with the mayor's office and health services, and subjected themselves to a self-quarantine as of press time.
Meanwhile, Andrew Pinero of the Baguio Country Club (BCC) and the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio (HRAB) said all hotels are being mandated to cooperate with the new order of the mayor for the safety of all.
Standard operating procedures for the BCC and hotels dictate if persons come from Covid-19-infected areas even without symptoms, a 14-day quarantine is needed. Guests staying for one night will not be allowed to check in.
Guests found to have temperatures over normal ,as well as symptoms will be directed to health facilities to coordination and medical attention.
Magalong assured ongoing isolation and disinfection are being done at the Manor in close coordination with the health department.
Dr. Rowena Galpo, Baguio City Health Services Office (BCHSO) chief, clarified that despite receiving information on the alleged positive Covid-19 case, their office is currently verifying the truthfulness of the report.
"We have been getting those text messages and even from the media, those posted on social media and as I said earlier, it is unverified and that is the truth. We have not been informed of that so I think DOH or BGH will have a better information on that," Galpo said.
Dr. Amelita Pangilinan, Department of Health (DOH)-Cordillera director, said the individual failed to be recorded under the patient under investigation (PUI) status due to the none availability of information regarding the identity and the history of travel.
"I just got hold of the master list of positives and this alleged case is not present here. So we are actually verifying a lot of data, where did this individual got it, did the individual came here last week, does the patient have the symptoms, why did the individual not opt to be absent in the said event? We are still gathering information to give a picture on what happened because the individual was not captured under our PUI and was not also reported by the hotel and we already gave guidelines what they will do for those checking in. As of today, March 16, we officially only have one confirmed case in the Cordillera Administrative Region," Pangilinan said.
DOH-Cordillera has contacted its epidemiologist in Metro Manila to gather details regarding the alleged case, aside from the ongoing verification and interview proceedings by Dr. Donnabel Tubera Panes of the CHO.
Galpo said that despite unconfirmed and unverified information regarding Covid-19 circulating on social media, the CHO continues to undergo the process of information dissemination, contact tracing processes and surveillance initiatives to guard against the dreaded disease.
"As our role in public health in the field health service, we are actually intensifying our home quarantine monitoring. We are also intensifying our contact tracing as we are constantly getting information also from DOH and BGH as part of the surveillance system and we have been helping out in contact tracing. IEC or Information dissemination is in place," the city health officer added. (With a report from Jonathan Llanes)